Can the Texans get some satisfaction?

I’ve already confessed to believing in sports jinxes. You start talking about the depth at running back and offensive line? Well then, injuries will happen during training camp to both of those groups.

I’m working on a fun Saints’ post but in the meantime, I thought I would share the view from the front row of the Bull Pen. The Bull Pen is the section of Reliant Stadium at the north end zone where fans stand the entire game. There really isn’t a bad seat in Reliant, but the Bull Pen is something that fans should experience at least once. This video was shot through the netting they hang for extra points. Lestar Jean got his touchdown signaled, the netting was raised, the TD was overturned, then the 2:00 minute warning happened, then the cheerleaders did their bit and then Chris Ogbonnaya scored. Hoo. Ray.

So, for all of those who can’t go to Reliant, that’s the best I can give you.

Found out something very random. The guy who cuts my hair also styles the hair of the Texans cheerleaders before the games. Their hair looks better than mine, which is no fault of my hair cut guy. For what its worth, he says that this year’s cheerleader squad is younger than last year’s.

Confirmation Bias.

On of the topics discussed in the last post is how it is hard to fight confirmation bias. My biases here are transparent: I want the Texans to win. Since I know I have that bias, I have to try to fight to find all news about the team, both good and bad, if I want to find the truth as much as it can be found. Since working with sports message boards and blogs, I’ve noticed that sports fans tend to get in the confirmation bias trap. That they have a particular point of view of a player or coach or whomever, and then they tend to only see the data that confirms their bias.

I have to say that if you aren’t already on Twitter, you should try it because it makes watching football a more rich, interactive, immediate experience. The flip side of that is that sometimes Twitter, blogs, message boards can create an echo chamber of opinions. That if opinion shapers have a particular opinion about a player, often others will pick that up and say similar things. Sometimes those opinions are valid, sometimes those opinions aren’t but are on a topic that fans tend to be passionate about.

Then there’s the issue with getting very fixed views on things. One of my favorite blogs is something I receive updated in my email box everyday. It’s called “Jim’s Daily Awakenings,” and basically you receive a thoughtful message every day by email. (How to get on email list is here). Dr. Jim Jackson is the senior pastor at Chapelwood Church in Houston, and he does these mini-talks on 97.5 The Buzz. One of his recent email/blog posts is very spot on:

According to a recently published report, people continue to believe initially published reports, even after retractions have been printed and the reports have proven the report was false. Researchers say our minds construct models of the truth and after facts are in our brains for a while they harden like cement. So that when they find out the original information they received was incorrect, their minds cannot receive it. The misinformation has become so integral to our thinking that to receive it would leave our worldview in shambles. In other words, we believe things that fit our view of the truth even if we know they are wrong.

He goes on to urge people to always search for an embrace the truth, even if it challenges our beliefs. Hard to argue with that.

This season, the Texans have made probably the most significant changes on the team since 2006. Their plan appears to be something other than “work harder,” “get more experience.” (battlefight!?) I’m not sure how it is going to work out, but what I do know is that I want to keep an open mind about things.

One topic that people tend to have very fixed views about is whether Mario Williams will excel in Wade Phillips’ system. Very strong opinions were offered by some after 15 or so plays on Monday night. Thought this NFL.com Pat Kirwan article from camp challenges some of the echo chamber talk you sometimes hear in the Houston area. Don’t think it is a very satisfying position to take, but I think we need to wait and see with a lot of this stuff. The question is how fast they can implement what they want to do. Texans facing some early season matchups against some teams that are returning a lot of the same personnel.